CONSOL Energy's Fola operations progresses on reclamation efforts

CONSOL Energy attributed this WARN notice to the expected February completion of coal processing and shipping from its preparation plant and recovery of equipment and infrastructure from the Little Eagle Deep Mine. CONSOL Energy anticipates that accelerated reclamation work will continue through mid-summer. Earlier this year, the company announced it would lay-off 318 employees and reassigned the remaining 147 employees from mining to reclamation work. The only coal produced through that transition occurred on the surface and was incidental to reclamation. A combination of market conditions and increasing pressure from the Environmental Protection Agency, which resulted in both increased costs of surface mining and significant uncertainty for the company's power generation customers related to the continued use of Central Appalachian coal were cited as reasons for the idling.